This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 10-185191, filed Jun. 30, 1999, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to an information filtering system and method in which, on the server side, video, sound and text information in broadcast programs are analyzed for creating information for selection or summarization of a program and the resulting information is then transmitted to users on the client side.
In recent years, rapid progress has been made in digitization and cabling of television broadcasting. As a result, television broadcasting services in excess of 100 channels are being made available to users. However, such a large number of channels will make it difficult for users to decide which channel to watch, which may result in failure to watch a program of interest. In view of such problems, video equipment has been proposed which permits automatic recording of a program of interest to a user utilizing an electric program guide broadcast by a broadcasting station (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-135621). With this proposal, the video equipment includes means for extracting keywords from descriptions of the respective programs in the electric program guide, counts the frequencies at which the keywords appear in programs selected by the user, and records automatically a program containing a keyword having the highest frequency. The processing in this proposal can be implemented with relatively small computational power because of text (electric program guide)-based processing and keyword-based processing. However, program selection cannot be made on the basis of information, such as that is not provided by the electric program guide, namely, information that cannot be extracted unless the program contents, such as video or sound, are analyzed (for example, what topics are dealt with in programs). Processing based on program content is expected to allow for more accurate program selection.
However, analyzing video or sound involves considerable computational power. From the viewpoint of manufacturing cost, therefore, it is difficult to incorporate processing involving such computational power into home-use video equipment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an information filtering system, an information filtering unit, video equipment, and an information filtering method which, by causing a server type system to perform content processing, such as video analysis and sound processing, that involves computational power and to send information after analysis to users"" video equipment, allows users to make use of content-based processing with no need of paying the computation-related cost.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information filtering system comprising an information filtering unit including receiving means for receiving programs broadcast by a broadcasting station; analyzing means for analyzing the contents of the programs received by the receiving means; selecting means for, by collating the analyses by the analyze means with a profile which has user""s personal tastes for programs stored, selecting a program that matches the profile; and sending means for sending the results of selection by the selecting means to user""s video equipment, and video equipment responsive to the results of selection sent from the sending means for automatically recording that program from the broadcasting station which is selected by the selecting means in the information filtering unit.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information filtering system comprising: an information filtering unit including receiving means for receiving programs broadcast by a broadcasting station; output means for outputting a summary of a program received by the receiving means and time information associated with the summary; rebroadcasting time detecting means for detecting a program rebroadcasting time from an electric program guide broadcast by the broadcasting station; and sending means for sending to video equipment the summary and associated time information output from the output means and the rebroadcasting time detected by the rebroadcasting time detecting means; and video equipment, responsive to the summary and associated time information and rebroadcasting time sent from the sending means, for displaying the summary.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information filtering method for use with an information filtering unit, connected with TV broadcast viewing video equipment by a communications line, for selecting a program from a number of programs, comprising the steps of: analyzing the contents of programs in terms of at least one of video, sound, and text and extracting their attributes; checking the extracted attributes against a profile having user""s personal tastes for programs stored in advance to select a program that matches the user""s profile; and sending the result of the program selection to the video equipment.
In the present invention, the information filtering unit carries out analysis processing, such as of analyzing the contents of a broadcast program in terms of video and sound, that requires computing power and then sends the resulting information to the video equipment on the client side.
The present invention allows private video equipment to utilize the results of advanced processing such as program selection, program recording indication, associating a program with another, etc., including program guidance provided by an electric program guide. Thus, users are allowed to receive sophisticated services through video equipment low in manufacturing cost.
In the present invention, the information filtering unit preferably instructs the video equipment to receive and record a program and to give indication to the user on the basis of an electric program guide that is broadcast beforehand and, when the program is actually broadcast, instructs the video equipment whether to continue or suspend the reception and recording of the program in accordance with the analyses of the program.
The present invention allows for rough filtering based on the electric program guide and more detailed filtering at the time of actual broadcasting.
In the present invention, it is desirable that the information filtering unit instructs the video equipment to receive and record a program and to give indication to the user on the basis of an electric program guide that is broadcast beforehand and, when the program is actually broadcast, instruct the video equipment whether to continue or suspend the reception and recording of the program in accordance with the analyses of the program.
In the present invention, for a program that was not selected at the time of rough filtering based on an electric program guide but was proved to should have been viewed as a result of detailed filtering performed at the time of actual broadcasting, it becomes possible to give the video equipment an instruction to receive and record it in the middle of broadcasting. In addition, it is also possible to give an instruction to provide for rebroadcasting.
Furthermore, in the present invention, the information filtering unit creates a summary of a broadcast program in the form of time information about times when scenes within the program are broadcast and sends the summary to the video equipment, and the video equipment creates a summary of the program received independently of the information filtering unit on the basis of the time information transmitted from the information filtering unit.
According to the present invention, as in a serial TV drama, in the case where one program is broadcast a number of times, one reception of the program can be allocated for the creation of a summary. In this case, the user is allowed, on viewing the summary, to determine whether or not to watch the rest of the program.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.